


i'll always be there for you

by RecklessWriter



Category: Naruto
Genre: Big Brother Uchiha Itachi, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, Light Angst, Not that he'll ever admit it, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug, sasuke misses his big brother, unless he's delirious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecklessWriter/pseuds/RecklessWriter
Summary: He’s pressed against something warm. There are fingers carding gently through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.“Nii-san,” Sasuke whispers.The hand in his hair freezes.Sasuke gets thrown into a frozen lake. Itachi doesn't know how to stop being a big brother, even when he's supposed to be pretending he doesn't care.
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 51
Kudos: 608





	i'll always be there for you

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently trying to work on the next chapter of _their eulogies sang us to sleep_... but I'm having writer's block on it, and this one-shot has been sitting in my phone partially finished for a few months now, so I decided to finish it up.
> 
> The timeline for this one-shot is slightly AU. It takes place after Sasuke's confrontation with Itachi in the inn, but before he leaves Konoha. Since in the canon timeline, Sasuke leaves the village almost immediately after he wakes up from his coma, this story is AU in the fact that Sasuke sticks around Konoha for a while longer.
> 
> Also, this does not follow proper hypothermia procedures. but this is fanfiction, and they're anime characters—they never die from things that they definitely should have 😂

Sasuke isn’t sure how he managed to get separated from his team, but he’s sure it’s Naruto’s fault somehow.

Snow crunches under his feet as he walks, and the wind is like glass against his face. There’s snow in his hair and on his skin, and his breath mists in front of him when he breathes. He struggles not to shiver.

The snowfall isn’t that heavy. Compared to the frequent blizzards that the Land of Frost experiences, this weather is rather tame. But the breeze is still biting, and the cloak he’s wearing isn’t very heavy, so the melted snowflakes are beginning to soak through the fabric.

Sasuke curses himself for not taking the extra cloak when Kakashi offered it. Now his team is gone, and he’s wandering alone in the cold with a dangerous hunter-nin on the loose.

This is definitely Naruto’s fault. Somehow.

He rubs his hands over his arms, pulling the beige cloak tighter around himself. His eyes are sharp as he watches for any sign of movement, be it a friend or an enemy. He knows his team can’t have gotten too far.

He just hopes he finds them before their pursuer finds _him_.

Their mission was meant to be simple. Just travel across the border and deliver important intelligence to the daimyō of the Land of Frost. But like most of Team Seven's missions, it quickly became more complicated.

The information held in the scroll they’re meant to deliver is extremely classified—and extremely valuable. Valuable enough to have hunter-nins on their tail, intent to kill them before taking the scroll off their corpses. If they knew this ahead of time, the mission would have been classified as being a B-Rank or higher. Instead, it was given a C-Rank.

It’s the Land of Waves all over again. Only this time it’s worse, because this time he’s alone.

And _fucking cold_.

Sasuke shivers again. He reaches down to his waist, where the scroll is hanging, to make sure it’s secure. He’s paranoid that the wind will blow it loose and it will be lost.

Kakashi gave him the scroll once he became aware they were being hunted. The hunter-nin would expect Kakashi to be the one carrying it, not a genin. And Sakura and Naruto could hardly be trusted not to look at it, not after what nearly happened during the second stage of the Chuunin Exams.

That left Sasuke as the best choice to carry it. It also means that he’s the one currently in the most danger.

Sasuke shudders against the cold. He’s not used to such freezing weather. He tries to ignore it, to fight it back, but he can’t deny the sense of fear that is slowly beginning to sneak up on him the longer his team remains out of sight.

_Where are they? They can’t be too far…_

Sasuke clenches his jaw, his hand tightening around the scroll at his waist. If only Naruto didn’t run ahead like a _total moron_ —

There’s a soft noise behind him. Like a footstep against an icy path. Sasuke freezes in place, his heartbeat stuttering. His hand clenches around the scroll.

He already knows it isn’t his team. They wouldn’t sneak up on him. (And Naruto is incapable of it, anyway.)

Slowly, he turns. He knows what he'll see, but the sight of the white mask still makes his breath catch. Similar to an ANBU mask, but with the slightest differences. Kirigakure's symbol is inscribed on the forehead—four slanted lines.

Normally, hunter-nins are sent out to eliminate shinobi who have defected from the Mist. Sasuke isn’t from the Hidden Mist Village, nor is he a rogue ninja, but the hunter-nin's orders regarding him will be the same. To kill him, and then to erase all evidence.

Sasuke straightens and looks up at the hunter-nin. His hands are already prepared to start forming signs. “I won’t give you the scroll.”

“I will kill you either way,” the hunter-nin responds. The voice is female. “The intel contained in the scroll you carry could destabilize the Mist overnight. I have no way of knowing if you’ve read it or not. You and the rest of your squad will die.”

Sasuke frowns, his grip tight on the scroll. _Destabilize the Mist overnight? It’s really that important?_

This mission _definitely_ should’ve been higher than a C-Rank.

“I won’t give it to you,” Sasuke repeats.

The hunter-nin inclines her head. “Very well.”

Sasuke doesn’t see her draw her katana, but suddenly it’s in her hand. She drops low, and Sasuke’s heart pounds at a rabbit’s pace. His hands flash through signs.

“ _Chidori_!”

Chakra sparks in his palm, circling his hand in blue lightning. It crackles against his skin, burns the edges of his sleeve. His left arm extended, his Sharingan flares to life as he charges.

The attack lands, but the hunter-nin's body disappears in a splash. Sasuke huffs as his Chidori dies, annoyed at himself for wasting such a heavy hit on a clone. He spins around when he feels an unnatural wind at his back.

He blocks the katana with a kunai, but struggles beneath the weight of the blade. His kunai slips, and Sasuke narrowly avoids the strike. The edge of the katana nicks his cheek.

A kick lands in his midsection. Sasuke skids backwards, losing his breath, his feet slipping on the frosty ground. He regains his balance, deflecting a shuriken with his kunai.

The hunter-nin deflects that same shuriken with her katana, and it flies sideways, landing in the half-frozen lake about two dozen feet away. She jumps into the air, over Sasuke’s head.

Sasuke’s Sharingan catches the seals that her hands flash through. _Ox, snake, ram._ The same technique Zabuza used.

_Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu._

Fog creeps in everywhere, covering the surrounding area. It obscures Sasuke’s vision, hiding the hunter-nin from sight. Sasuke can feel the two tomoe in his eyes whirling, searching for any hint of movement. But the mist is too thick for even his Sharingan to cut through.

And suddenly, there is a sword at his throat. Sasuke freezes, feeling the sharp blade kissing his skin. It would take a single movement for it to slice across his neck. A single movement to kill him.

“Nice try, kid,” the hunter-nin says, her voice right by his ear.

Sasuke’s breath catches. _She’ll kill me as soon as she has the scroll._

He feels her reach forward, under his cloak. Sasuke is spitting with anger, _he can’t let her get the scroll_ , but he’s very much aware of how easily she could kill him now. As much as he hates it, as much as it stings, he remains motionless.

Her fingers wrap around the scroll at his waist, unclipping it and pulling it off him. Sasuke doesn’t breathe.

“Thank you for this,” she says.

Sasuke moves only a fraction of a second faster than the katana at his throat. It’s a move likely to kill him, but he’s about to die anyway, so he has nothing to lose. He slams his head back, into the hunter-nin's masked face. The hunter-nin stumbles in surprise.

The sharp blade slices a thin line across Sasuke’s neck as he slips out of the hunter-nin’s grasp. The cut is shallow, but it still causes fear to surge in his chest.

He presses his hand to the cut, feeling blood trickle between his fingers. _Too close._

“Damn _brat_ ,” the hunter-nin hisses. And before he can regain his breath, she kicks him _hard_ in the center of the chest.

Sasuke crashes into the frozen lake.

* * *

Itachi’s mission is simple. He’s to intercept the squad delivering the scroll, and take it from them before it can reach the daimyō.

 _No matter what,_ Pain said to him, _that information cannot be allowed to reach Shimogakure._

He’s alone on this mission. It’s covert, and Kisame will only draw attention. His mission is to intercept the scroll and dispatch the squad carrying it. He feels guilty, knowing the blood he’s about to get on his hands, but it’s far from the first time he’s killed under the Akatsuki's employ. It won’t be the last.

And Itachi’s hands are already soaked in innocent blood. What’s a bit more?

He’s sitting in one of the trees, snow falling around him, when he spots the squad that he’s targeting. His heart stops when he gets a proper look at them.

_Sasuke._

Itachi wants to curse fate for being so cruel to him. What are the chances that he and his brother would end up in the Land of Frost at the same time? What are the chances that _his_ would be the squad delivering the scroll?

Itachi immediately scraps the orders he was given. There’s no way he’s killing his brother. Madara knows this.

Itachi wonders, hopefully, if there’s a way to grab the scroll without Sasuke seeing him. He doesn’t want a confrontation with his younger brother—not so soon after the last one. And there’s no way that Sasuke won’t attack him if he sees him.

He watches, from his high vantage point, as the four members of Squad Seven make their way across the landscape. The weather isn’t too bad, for the usual temperatures in the Land of Frost. It’s _cold_ , definitely, but nowhere near freezing. Itachi is in his usually Akatsuki cloak, and is mostly unbothered by the chill.

He watches his brother bicker with Naruto Uzumaki, suppressing an amused smirk. Itachi can’t hear what they’re saying, but it’s clear how close they are. It was clear in the hallway of the inn, when the blonde yelled his brother’s name.

Itachi shies away from that memory. He can still hear Sasuke’s screams in his ears.

Kakashi gives Sasuke the scroll, and Itachi’s jaw clenches slightly as he tucks it away under his cloak. Now he has no choice in the matter. He’ll have to confront his brother.

Once again, Itachi curses fate for hating him. Why did Kakashi have to give the scroll to _Sasuke_?

He bites his lip when he sees his brother get separated from the others. It’s better this way, if Sasuke is alone when Itachi confronts him. But he senses the hunter-nin that is following him, and his older brother instincts are urging Sasuke to get back to his team, even if that isn’t to Itachi’s benefit.

He watches with bated breath as the hunter-nin confronts Sasuke, forcing himself to stay still. _He’ll be fine. Sasuke has this._

Sasuke _doesn’t_ have it. The hunter-nin’s blade kisses his throat, seconds away from spilling his blood across the snow, and Itachi leaps from his hiding place, heart racing with fear. He lands on the frozen ground just as Sasuke hits the surface of the lake.

The hunter-nin is already disappearing, pocketing the scroll she stole. Itachi has a split-second of indecision. If he goes to his brother, the hunter-nin will get away with the scroll. But if he chases after the hunter-nin, Sasuke could drown.

A choice between carrying out his mission or saving his brother’s life—it shouldn’t even be a question. He shouldn’t even have to think about it.

But still, Itachi hesitates.

(Only for a moment, but it’s still enough to make him hate himself.)

He throws his cloak on the ground and dives into the water after his brother.

The water is _cold, cold, cold_. It soaks through his clothes and sinks into his bones immediately. Itachi struggles to breathe around the ice in his chest, forcing his eyes open. He can see his brother.

Sasuke hasn’t sunk far. The cloak on his back caused him to sink slowly. Itachi ignores his stinging eyes, reaching out his hand. His fingers lock around the collar of Sasuke’s cloak.

Itachi drags them both out of the icy lake, gasping. His brother’s eyes are closed, and he leans over to be sure that he’s breathing. He is.

It’s only after he’s fully emerged from the lake that Itachi realizes it would’ve been a better idea to have a clone jump in instead. Now _both_ of them are cold and wet and freezing, and now _both_ of them are probably going to die of hypothermia.

_Smart thinking, genius._

The chiding voice sounds achingly like Shisui.

Itachi shivers, the slightly-chilly air now feeling below freezing. He pushes his wet hair out of his face, kneeling down on the ground.

Sasuke’s eyes are closed— _thank god_. Itachi contemplates going on his way. There’s still a chance he can catch up to the hunter-nin, and Sasuke hasn’t seen him as of yet. There’s no reason he has to know that Itachi was ever here.

But he doesn’t know where Sasuke’s team is—if they’re even anywhere close. And Sasuke’s lips look alarmingly blue. He’s shivering—already showing the first signs of hypothermia. Itachi can’t just _leave him_.

He reaches down, brushing wet strands of hair from his little brother’s face. His heart clenches, fear sparking in his gut.

_No. No, I can’t leave him._

It’s a risk. It’s a big risk. Sasuke’s going to wake up at some point, and it’s unlikely Itachi will be able to get away before he’s noticed. Before Sasuke asks the dreaded question of _why the hell are you helping me?_ But as it turns out, four years as a member of a criminal organization haven’t dulled his big brother instincts in the slightest. Itachi doesn’t find it difficult, in this moment, to walk away from his little brother. He finds it _impossible._

Itachi sighs. Resigned to his decision—and the consequences likely to come of it—he carefully picks up Sasuke in his arms. The kid is a lot heavier than when he was seven, and Itachi is _soaking wet_ , so he stumbles rather embarrassingly.

It’s fortunate Kisame isn’t here. He’d never let Itachi live it down.

He swipes his Akatsuki cloak off the ground as he stands up—the only piece of his clothing still dry. He scans the surrounding trees, searching for some place to sit down. A cave, or a small clearing. Some place he can start a fire.

For once, luck is on his side. He finds an alcove not far away. It’s small, not quite deep enough to be called a cave, but it will fit the two of them under it and keep them out of the falling snow. Itachi drags both of them over to it, and goes about starting a fire.

As the flames spark, the wood beginning to burn, Itachi recalls all the time spent with Shisui in front of a fire. His heart aches, and he banishes the memory of Shisui’s face bathed in an orange glow, flames dancing in his eyes.

( _"_ _I didn’t think there was anything I could teach you. I’m happy I was wrong."_ )

After a moment of hesitation, Itachi pulls his brother to him, settling the boy’s head in his lap. He can feel him shivering violently, the fire not seeming to do any good.

Itachi frowns slightly. He picks his Akatsuki cloak up from beside him and drapes it over Sasuke. Gently, he cards his fingers through his brother’s damp hair.

“I really hope you don’t remember any of this,” he says.

* * *

Sasuke lingers outside the doorway, tears hot on his cheeks. Hugging the pillow to his chest, he raises his shaking hand to knock.

After a moment, the door opens. Itachi appears, bleary-eyed and aggravated. “Sasuke, _what_? It’s two in the morning—”

At the sight of the tears on his face, his annoyance quickly disappears, replaced by concern. “What is it? What happened?”

Sasuke trembles, hugging the pillow tighter to his chest. He stares down at his feet.

“I had a nightmare,” he admits.

There’s a pause, and Sasuke is too scared to look up. He doesn’t want his brother to send him back to his room. But then, the door opens wider.

Sasuke looks up. Itachi has moved from the doorway, letting him inside. “Come on,” he says softly.

Sasuke is flooded with relief. Itachi leads him into the room, closing the door behind him, and Sasuke hops up onto the bed beside him.

“You can sleep here tonight,” Itachi says. “But don’t tell Father I let you, okay?”

Sasuke nods eagerly. Itachi lets him settle his head in his lap. After a moment, he feels his brother’s fingers in his hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks.

Sasuke tenses, his breath catching. The reminder causes another wave of tears, and he shakes his head against his brother’s stomach.

“Okay.” Itachi says. “That’s okay, don’t think about it.”

Sasuke lets out a choked sob. Itachi pulls him closer.

“Shh,” he whispers, nails scraping lightly against Sasuke’s scalp. “Go to sleep, Sasuke.”

Sasuke closes his eyes, and everything begins to drift. There are fingers dragging through his hair, a soft voice whispering to him, but Sasuke can’t remember who it belongs to or where he is—

“Will you be here when I wake up?” he asks. His own voice sounds muffled and distant.

Sasuke’s warm, warm, warm world starts twisting, crumbling, fading away, and the gentle, gentle, gentle voice fades away with it. Sasuke tries to hold onto it, reaches out with his fingers desperately, _no, wait, come back, don’t go—_

“I’ll be here,” the voice says, drifting farther and farther away. “I’ll always be here.”

The warmth brushes against his fingers as it fades. The voice echoes.

_I’ll always be here._

_I’ll always be here._

_I’ll always be here._

Then there is nothing but cold. Cold and dark and quiet, and he’s floating inside a terrible darkness. Everything is _empty_ , and he is _alone_ , and he doesn’t know where the warmth has gone, but he misses it, he wants it back, and everything is _cold cold cold_ —

A familiar touch pulls him back.

He’s pressed against something warm. There are fingers carding gently through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.

“Nii-san,” Sasuke whispers.

The hand in his hair freezes.

He whines slightly as the fingers retreat from his hair. The coldness creeps back in with them gone, and he presses further into the warmth around him, trying to get them back.

 _Don’t go,_ he thinks desperately.

Hesitantly, the fingers return to his hair. Sasuke relaxes at the tender touch, pressing into it.

He’s floating inside a gentle glow of warmth. He feels weightless, unbothered. There’s no thought in his head, because there’s no need for it. Nothing can hurt him. He’s protected. He’s safe.

There are nails scraping lightly at his scalp. Sasuke recognizes the touch, and he curls around it. He’s missed it.

_Nii-san…_

There’s a part of him, beneath the warm glow, that is screaming at him. That interprets each soft touch as insects against his skin.

A part of him knows he should push the warmth surrounding him away, but he can’t remember why.

 _He killed them,_ a small voice whispers in the back of his head. _He left you._

A small frown pulls at Sasuke’s lips. His mind refuses to properly comprehend the words. But the phrase _he left you_ swims around inside his head, and quite suddenly, Sasuke _aches_.

Sasuke pries his eyes open. It’s a difficult task. A familiar face hovers over him, but it’s blurry and unfocused. Dark hair and pale skin, a glint of metal—

Sasuke feels his heart twist in his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. He reaches up with unsteady fingers, touching his brother’s face.

Tears sting at Sasuke’s eyes, blurring his vision even further.

“You left,” he whispers.

The look on Itachi’s face is strange. He takes Sasuke’s hands, lowering them back down.

“I had to,” he says.

Sasuke _aches_ at the sound of his voice. A feeling comes over him, almost like _homesickness_. He chokes on the sob trying to claw its way out of his throat.

“I missed you,” he says.

Itachi tenses. The breath rushes out of his lungs, his eyes closing and his eyebrows furrowed as if in pain. He reaches out with gentle fingers, brushing the tears from Sasuke’s cheeks.

“You shouldn’t,” he says quietly. “You should hate me. I killed our family. I left you alone. _You should hate me_.”

A part of Sasuke knows that he is right. A part of him, even now, is seething in hatred, fighting to claw its way out. But everything is hazy, is floating, and the words refuse to properly penetrate his brain.

Itachi is holding him, and Sasuke has _missed_ him.

“How can you not hate me?” Itachi asks, and his voice sounds like shards of glass are lodged in his throat.

Sasuke wants to hug him, to wrap his arms around him. But he has no energy to move, so he curls his fingers into his brother’s shirt instead, presses closer to his warmth and lets it drive away the chill in his bones.

“You’re my brother,” he says. “I love you.”

Above him, Itachi makes a slightly choked noise. “You’re delirious.”

Sasuke presses his face against his brother, screwing his eyes closed. After a moment, he feels those same fingers combing through his hair again. It seems he stays there for an eternity, encased in the safety of Itachi’s warmth.

Itachi is wearing a necklace. Sasuke doesn't remember him wearing it before. He reaches up, twisting it around his fingers. Drowsiness presses against him on all sides, trying to drag him under.

“I’m tired.”

“Then go to sleep.”

Sasuke shakes his head, his eyes feeling hot. “You’re going to leave again.”

Chapped lips brush lightly against Sasuke’s forehead.

“I won’t,” Itachi whispers, his hair tickling Sasuke’s face. “Not yet. Go to sleep, otouto.”

Sasuke does.

* * *

After over half an hour, Itachi sends a crow out to find Kakashi Hatake. He’s risking his cover by doing so, but if he doesn’t, then his brother is going to freeze to death.

He plans to be gone by the time the man gets here, anyway.

He looks down at Sasuke in his lap. The boy is shivering, wrapped up in Itachi’s Akatsuki cloak. Even in his sleep, he’s trying to push himself closer, burrowing into the only warmth he can find

Itachi’s heart races in his chest at being allowed this close. He’s terrified his brother is going to wake up and suddenly come back to himself, to realize where he is and who it is who's holding him.

Even with the fire crackling a foot away, both of them are still soaked. Itachi brushes the water from Sasuke’s face, continuing to comb his fingers through his damp hair.

Itachi trails his hand lightly down his brother’s cheek. He’s lost most of the baby fat he had when he was seven. His jawline is sharp, like their father’s. There’s a cut on his neck—the place where the hunter-nin's sword dragged across his skin. The water washed away the blood, and now it’s beginning to scab over.

Itachi runs his finger over the shallow cut, his heart in his throat. If Sasuke was just half a second slower… if the hunter-nin sliced just half an inch deeper…

Itachi swallows roughly. He holds his little brother closer.

There’s a slight movement. Itachi pulls his hand back as if burned.

“Sasuke?”

Sasuke whines at the loss of contact. His eyes are scrunched and barely open. “ _Nii-san_ …”

Itachi ignores the way his heart stutters at the word. There’s a glazed look in Sasuke’s eyes, and his shivering seems to have grown more violent. He’s getting worse.

Itachi returns his fingers to Sasuke’s hair. “I thought I told you to go to sleep.”

Sasuke’s fingers twist in the fabric of his shirt. “But if I go to sleep, then you’ll be gone. I don’t want you to be gone again.”

Itachi’s chest is tight. His brother sounds so _young_. Nothing like that angry boy, full of hate, that charged at him in that hallway less than three weeks ago.

(If he looks extremely close, he can still see the bruises his fingers pressed into Sasuke’s skin.)

“You don’t want me here,” Itachi tells him. “Not really. You probably won’t even remember this.”

He _hopes_ Sasuke doesn’t remember this.

Sasuke squeezes his eyes shut. There’s something damp soaking into his shirt, and Itachi doesn’t know if it’s lake water or tears.

“Don’t leave,” he begs. “ _Please_.”

Itachi nearly gives in then. He feels his resolve waver and threaten to break, and he wants to say to hell with all of his plans. He wants to throw all of them out, wants to tell his brother _okay_. He wants to wait for Kakashi to find them, wants to go home _with_ them.

But he can’t. Konoha is out of his sights now. He’ll never step foot there again.

Itachi smiles the same kind smile he used to. He’s surprised by how strange it feels—the once-natural movement has become foreign to him.

“I won’t leave,” he lies. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Sasuke’s grip on his shirt tightens. Itachi can feel his nails through the fabric.

“How can I trust that?” he asks.

Itachi brushes a hand across his forehead, pushes his hair behind his ear. “Would I lie to you?”

“ _Yes_.”

Itachi swallows. “Well, I’m not this time.”

It’s heartbreaking to watch how quickly his brother believes the words—to feel him relax completely, as if Itachi hasn’t already proven a hundred times over that his word isn’t to ever be trusted.

Itachi’s hands settle in Sasuke's hair once again. His fingers weave gently through the strands, allowing the tender motion to soothe his brother back into slumber. He begins humming under his breath—a tune their mother used to sing.

Sasuke’s breathing evens out. His shivering begins to lessen.

“Why?” Sasuke whispers, in a terribly confused voice. “Why are you doing this? Why are you taking care of me?”

Itachi remembers a bright day on the porch, his brother sitting beside him. He remembers turning to the child and giving him a smile.

( _“Even if you do hate me… I’ll always be there for you.”)_

“Because,” he says softly, “I made you a promise.”

* * *

Sasuke wakes up to Kakashi hovering over him, a worried look on his face.

“Sasuke? Are you awake?”

His mind is fuzzy. His clothes are wet and so is his hair. He’s laying on the ground, and the remains of a fire, recently burning, are only a foot away.

He pushes himself up off the ground, shivering. He’s fucking _cold_.

“Sasuke-kun!” a voice says from behind Kakashi. “Thank goodness!”

It’s Sakura. Sasuke winces at her shrill volume. It slices through his brain like a senbon.

He struggles to shake the fog from his mind. His bones feel like ice, making it hard for him to think. “What happened?”

Kakashi frowns at him. “You don’t remember?”

Sasuke struggles to think. The cogs in his head feel frozen. He tries to think back, to recall what happened, but all of it is a blur. He remembers a soft warmth, a gentle touch…

There’s a face that seems to linger just out of his reach. He tries to grasp it, but it slips away from him.

“You got lost,” Naruto tells him, his arms crossed over his chest. “We had to stomp through the snow for over an hour looking for your lame ass.”

“Naruto!” Sakura yells. “Don’t blame Sasuke-kun! The only reason we got separated from him was because you decided to run off!”

“His fault. He should’ve kept up with us.”

Sakura punches him. Sasuke winces at the sound of their squabbling. He pulls his cloak tighter around him as the cold wrecks him. He shoves his soaking hair out of his face.

“So how did—” He breaks off when he sees the way his sensei is looking at him, his lips pulling into a frown. “ _What_?”

He looks down at himself. His heart stops. The cloak that’s draped around him, that he just wrapped himself in tighter, isn’t his own. It’s black with red clouds.

An Akatsuki cloak.

For a moment, Sasuke’s brain goes staticky.

He remembers gentle fingers combing through his hair. A soft voice speaking, lips brushing against his forehead—

( _“Go to sleep, otouto.”_ )

Sasuke comes back to himself. He’s suddenly cold in a way that has nothing to do with the weather.

“Kakashi,” he asks slowly, and his lips feel numb. “How did you find me?”

Kakashi hesitates a moment before he answers. His eyes flicker to the Akatsuki cloak wrapped around him, an apprehensive look going through them.

“…A crow. A crow led us here.”

Sasuke feels like he might faint. Or maybe throw up.

( _“Go to sleep, otouto.”_ )

He shakes his head. He tries to think, to _remember_ , but everything after the hunter-nin is fuzzy. There’s a face, a memory, and it lingers in the corner of his eye, but no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t _touch it—_

He’s shaking, he realizes. He feels nauseous. He’s going to be sick.

He stands up on trembling legs. He attempts to rip the cloak off, to throw into the snow, to get it _away_. But Kakashi stops him.

“Don’t,” he says. He pulls the cloak tighter around him, buttoning it at the top. “It’s freezing out here, and the rest of your clothes are soaked. You’ll catch your death.”

Sasuke bites his tongue so hard it bleeds. “But—”

“Don’t think about it for now. Just wear it until we get home.” A furrow appears between Kakashi’s eyebrows, and he tilts Sasuke’s chin up. “What happened here?”

He runs a finger lightly along the cut at Sasuke’s throat. Sasuke winces and pulls away.

“The hunter-nin found me. They stole the scroll. Sorry.”

Naruto throws his hands into the air. “They _what_? Nice going, Sasuke!”

“Naruto! Don’t talk to Sasuke-kun like that! He’s hurt!”

“He’s fine! He’s just wet!” Naruto looks at him with a frown. “Why the hell _are_ you wet, anyway?”

Sasuke glares at him. “Shut up, loser. This is all your fault.”

“ _My_ fault? How is it _my_ fault!?”

“If you hadn’t run off like an idiot—”

The two of them fall into their familiar pattern of bickering. Kakashi sighs and forces them to get moving, declaring the mission failed since they no longer have the scroll.

Naruto huffs at him, kicking the snow with his feet. “I can’t believe you fell in a _lake_.”

“Shut _up_ ,” Sasuke snarls. “I didn’t _fall_ , I was _thrown_.”

“Whatever. You’re still lame.”

“ _Naruto_ —"

The four of them continue to walk. Sasuke pulls the black-and-red cloak tighter around himself. He buries his nose in the fabric.

It smells like his brother.

* * *

“Where did you go?” Kisame asks him. “You were gone for a while. And why are you _soaking wet_?”

Itachi ignores his partner, stalking past him without responding. Kisame follows after him, his giant sword hefted over his shoulder.

“So, how did it go? Did you get the scroll?”

“No.”

Kisame frowns at the curt answer. “Huh? _No_?”

Itachi doesn’t pay him any mind. His head is still stuck back in that cave with his brother, the heat of the fire surrounding them. Sasuke’s soft breathing, his hair between slipping between Itachi’s fingers…

( _“You’re my brother,”_ he said. _“I love you.”_ )

Itachi’s breath catches in his chest as he remembers the soft words. His heart stutters. _Sasuke… I wish…_

Sasuke was delirious from the cold. It’s doubtful he’ll remember anything. He won’t remember the things he admitted, won’t remember Itachi’s promise to stay. If Kakashi tells him about the crow, it will be slightly suspicious, but he isn’t sure if Sasuke even knows about his summoning contract with them.

He'll hardly remember the entire ordeal, and if he does, he’ll dismiss it as a fever dream. There’s no proof that Itachi was ever there—

“What happened to your cloak?” Kisame asks.

Itachi frowns. He looks down at the cloak that covers him. The cloak that he isn’t wearing. The cloak that he left with Sasuke.

“ _Dammit_ ,” he hisses.

* * *

A couple days later, when the four of them are back in the Hidden Leaf, Kakashi looks up from the pages of his book and asks him, “By the way, what did you ever do with that cloak?”

“I burned it,” Sasuke answers.

Kakashi seems to accept this answer. He goes back to his porn.

He doesn’t suspect the truth. That Sasuke has actually stuffed the cloak in his room, at the bottom of one of his drawers. That just last night he pulled it out, running his fingers over the fabric, wondering _why, why, why_.

He remembers gentle fingers carding through his hair. He remembers a soft voice, filled with equal parts of love and regret.

( _“Why are you doing this?”_

 _“I made you a promise.”_ ) 

* * *

Two weeks later, Sasuke leaves the village for Orochimaru.

He stuffs the cloak into the bottom of his rucksack and takes it with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please leave a comment if you have the time :)


End file.
